Mehedi fulfills dream with winning shot

Bangladesh all-rounder Mehedi Hasan (L) jumps in the air after hitting the winning runs against Sri Lanka in the second Test in Colombo on Sunday. — AFP photo

Bangladesh’s young off-spinner Mehedi Hasan looked to have fulfilled his dream while playing the winning shot to seal their historic maiden Test win against Sri Lanka in their centenary Test at Colombo.Mehedi did not want to lose the opportunity of becoming part of history when he joined Mushfiqur Rahim in the crease to pick required two runs to register their landmark win at P Sara Oval.Knowing the importance of the win, Mehedi was determined to show the world that young Tigers are not ready to shy away from taking the team to the coast of their biggest Test win so far.‘While walking to take my guard the only thing that I was thinking was to play the winning shot,’ Mehedi told New Age on Monday as he arrived to Dhaka along with other Test specialists. ‘I knew whoever will take the winning run will be part of history. It will be etched into the heart of our fans forever,’ he said.‘So I was determined to play the winning shot instead of anything else,’ he said.Mehedi added the presence of skipper Mushfiq at the other end only helped him to grow his confidence as in the last few months he shared some good time with him in the middle.Mehedi scored his maiden half-century against India that he believed helped him gain confidence regarding his own batting after failing to shine with the willow initially in the Test arena.Mushfiq and Mehedi added 87 runs for the seventh wicket to put up a brave fight against the Indians and it was Mushfiq’s encouragement during that phase in the middle that just seemed to pull everything in order for him.‘I am very comfortable batting with him,’ said Mehedi.‘He makes everything so calm when you are around him in the middle and it can only help you to express yourself without any hesitation,’ he said.‘I am learning with each passing days whether it is batting or bowling from the senior members of our team.’ Mehedi, who hogged the spotlight on his debut series by playing the pivotal role behind their maiden Test series win against England with 19 wickets in two matches, claimed he is much calmer now than before.Mehedi managed to grab only four wickets in the next two Test matches against New Zealand and picked two wickets in the one-off Test series against India.However, the young off-spin prodigy became a lethal weapon in Bangladesh repertoire during the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka by grabbing 10 wickets. ‘Earlier I wanted to try too many things,’ said Mehedi, ‘Now with time I am getting the hang of Test cricket. I have to hold on to my tricks much more as applying it too often can help the opponent read me more easily,’ said Mehedi.